Doctor Strange

W A R N I N G ! ! ! SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

With that out of the way, onto the review!

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                  Stephen Strange is a world-renowned surgeon who jams out to classic 70s and 80s music while performing extremely difficult procedures with ease. He's got the biggest ego you could possibly imagine, but he's brilliant. Right in the beginning of the movie, he performs an almost impossible surgical procedure in order to save the life of a man that was shot in the head. Yes, with a

bullet.

                  All of that changes however, when he gets into a devastating car accident. He's rushed to the ER and operated on, and when he wakes up, his hands are absolutely destroyed. They look terrible, and the doctor tells him that his hands' nerves are too badly severed. Therefore, he can never operate again. His hands are constantly shaking, and there's nothing he can do about it.

                  Naturally, he wants to fix himself. So he starts doing research. He finds out about theoretical procedures that could cure the nerve damage in his hands. He squanders his wealth on seven of those different experimental procedures; and they all fail. Then, he finds one man that tells him about someone called "The Ancient One." This person can fix him, Strange is told. So, using the last amount of money he has, he takes a plane to Nepal and finds the Ancient One.

                  When he finds the Ancient One, she tells him that she can teach his soul how to find harmony and balance, therefore healing his body. Strange is outraged by this fairy-tale and demands that she operate on him, when she casts his astral form out of his body. He still doesn't believe, and then the Ancient One sends him on a wild and brilliant journey of cinematic effects. They are definitely worth the 3D Ticket price.

                 He is launched out from those different dimensions and lands on the floor at the Ancient One's feet and says, "Teach me."

                 So his training begins, and his incantations are perfect, he is a brilliant book worm and will read books for hours, poring over their information. He learns the spells word perfect, gets the hand motions down, but nothing ever happens. To fix that, the Ancient One takes him to Mount Everest

and tells him to build himself a portal back to the Sanctum (Temple in Nepal where the Ancient One resides). Within two minutes, he does it. Otherwise, his body would have gone into shock, and he would have died within an additional five minutes from hypothermia.

                 One day, as he's in the library, he looks at a specific book that you will be able to quickly identify because of the beginning minutes of the movie. It's a good ride, so I won't spoil that for you. But basically he's looking at it, and then uses the Eye of Agamotto to manipulate time. He tests that power on the apple he's eating.

                For those that don't know, the Eye of Agamotto is a magical relic, created by Agamotto, the First Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, if my knowledge is correct. And yes, the theories are true, it is indeed the Time Stone. Whether or not it is the Time Stone itself is still a mystery, though.
               Strange goes on reading the book, and then he comes across the name "Dormammu." Wong, the Librarian, and Mordo, the Sorcerer Supreme's best student, bust into the library and freak out.

They tell him to never utter that name again and that Dormammu is no power to trifle with.
From there, the action picks up as Kaecilius, a former student of The Ancient One that stole some pages from a book at the beginning of the movie, starts attacking the different sanctums of the world.
                The Sanctums, as Wong and Mordo explain, are the three magical places that place a barrier over the Earth to keep Dormammu and other evil entities out. So while the Avengers fight aliens, the Sorcerers fight battles within the mystical realm.
                Eventually, Kaecilius storms all three (New York, Hong Kong, and London) and Dormammu begins his descent in Hong Kong. Strange, bearing the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation, reverses time so that the collateral damage can be minimized. But before he can complete the spell, Kaecilius and his goons break from it and start causing trouble. So what Strange

does is he goes up into the Dark Dimension and finds Dormammu.
              If you haven't already seen the memes, this is where Strange says multiple times: "Dormammu, I've come to bargain." After Strange dies about 80 or so times, Dormammu gets pissed and finally agrees to leave Earth alone if he can get out of the time loop.
So yeah, that's basically the film. Make sure you stay for the after credits, though. They set up "Thor: Ragnarok" and the second "Doctor Strange" films.

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Ratings:

Family Friendliness: 9/10 Sanctums There wasn't much in this movie to really point out that would be really worthy of noting. I mean, there's violence obviously, and then there's a lot of graphic injuries especially in the beginning when Strange is all screwed up because of the car crash. There's minimal swearing, and overall, it's a pretty fun movie.
Story-line: 7/10 Magic Books Overall, it's the typical story. This guy has got an issue and a big ego, wants to fix the problem, then ends up becoming a great hero that saves all of humanity. But the fact that it's magic makes it amazing. 
Story-Action Balance: 8/10 Spells There was a nice balance between the actual plot and then the action that ensues as a result of the story is nicely played out. The visuals are stunning, and I'll even give those visuals a rating below.
Visuals: 9/10 Sorcerers Nuff said, just watch it.
Comic Accuracy: 8/10 The origin story is spot on, except for the fact that the Ancient One was not a woman, Mordo was originally a bad guy already when Strange came along, and that Strange did not face Dormammu until he was about 10 years into his training. But then again, Marvel can't cover ten years of training in about two and a half hours. Other than that, swell movie!
Overall: 8/10 SEE IT



Bibliography: "Doctor Strange Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNdM7b1Lm04>
"Doctor Strange" <http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/doctorstrangereview.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: The Ancient One" <http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/doctor-strange-tilda-swinton.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Mordo" <http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Doctor-Strange-Movie-Mordo-and-Strange-Banner.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Kaecilius" <https://typeset-beta.imgix.net/rehost/2016/9/22/b9a22007-da46-4913-89c7-eff981e66f85.jpg>
"Doctor Strange: Dormammu" <https://images.moviepilot.com/images/c_limit,q_auto,w_710/deiyyyc5akea97zypabu/doctor-strange-challenges-dormammu-credit-disney.jpg>

Star Trek: Beyond

Alright so I just got back from vacation in El Paso, Texas, and I gotta put this movie review up before I go and see another movie like... Tarzan??? Possibly. But I will try and stay up to date. Thanks for bearing with me guys.

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                  I actually really like what I pulled off up top. Kudos to me, right? Thanks to those who agreed. But anywho, this was a fun movie. Now, I was kind of disappointed that J.J. Abrams didn't direct this, but I always keep in mind he directed Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, so I can forgive

him. But I'm still kinda sad.

                 The movie is about the five year journey that the Enterprise goes on, like in the original T.V. series with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (may he rest in peace). We pick up on year three (that's "III" or "3" or "1+1+1" just in case you got a little confused XP) of their journey and Captain Kirk is attempting to make peace on a planet in front of an alien council. Well, they don't like it.

                  Kirk presents them a gift, which the council immediately rejects and starts flipping out about. "Where did you get that?!" they demand of him. "It was a gift to you," he responds, not realizing the significance of it. Obviously, we've got no idea either. It looks like one of those

Jaylah, who helps Scottie

hologram projectors from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars T.V. Series (I loved that show).
                   So the council members jump down at Kirk and start attacking him, which means that diplomatic ties have failed. The Enterprise beams Kirk outta there and they leave the planet. On board, Kirk and Bones have a drink together in celebration for Kirk's birthday, which is the next day. Kirk asks Bones to keep the whole thing low-key, because he doesn't like others knowing about his birthday. Bones agrees.
                    The Enterprise's next stop is the newest and biggest Starfleet Space Station to date. It reminds me a lot of the bigger Death Star in The Force Awakens. There, they're going to get some rest, refuel, restock, and then be on their way.
                    Alright so fast forward a bit and the crew is crash landed on a strange planet in the middle of an uncharted Nebula, a little ways away from the giant Starfleet Space Station. The Enterprise is totally trashed, the majority of the crew is captured, and Bones is with an injured Spock while Kirk and Chekhov are together trying to find Bones and Spock and Scottie. Scottie meets a woman who leads him to an old Starfleet Space Craft, which she has made her home. 
                    What you need to know is that Bones, Spock, Kirk, Chekhov, and Scottie all reunite to save the crew of the Enterprise, and in the process stop a plot to basically wipe out the entire galaxy, usual space kind of stuff. It's a wild ride though, and I loved the visuals and CGI. 

Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 8/10 There's some minor blood, a whole lotta fighting, shooting, punching, kicking, action sorta stuff. It's more action-packed than story really, but the story is... there. I still think that J.J. Abrams would totally have rocked this one had he directed it. 
Story line- 6/10 Like I said, there isn't really that strong of a story. In fact, the story doesn't really show up until halfway into the movie, and by that time you've just lost all hope for a story when it slaps you in the face and you're forced to pay attention again. This wasn't like the previous two Star Treks where the story was there right in the beginning and you have to follow the entire time, leaving you satisfied at the end. But still... it's Chris Pine. He's a fun guy!
Story-Action Balance- 6/10 Personally, I love a movie where it's just action and things blowing up every now and then. But I was honestly expecting a pretty solid story from this third installment of the revamped Star Trek series. 
Miscellaneous- 8/10 It's not that much miscellaneous stuff, but I just wanted to throw in there that I really enjoyed the fact that there was a lot more character development, especially with Kirk and Spock. Their stories were virtually the same (I won't spoil anything) but it also delved deeper into Scottie, Bones, Zulu, Chekhov, and Uhura as a family of sorts. Also, since Leonard Nimoy's passing, they do pay homage to him in the film, which contributes to Spock's development further into the story. Kirk is still growing up a lot, and I like how they show his maturity grow as each film passes. I feel like he is becoming more and more of a man, and by the time the series ends, Kirk will be just as wise as William Shatner's Kirk... hopefully.
Overall- 7.5/10 The math actually checks out to 7/10 but I gave it a little bit of a boost because it's Star Trek. I absolutely love this series and I can't wait to see how J.J. Abrams picks up the story. Hopefully he does a better job than this director. I know he will, I mean, look at what he did with Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens! J.J. will rock it. 

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Bibliography: "Star Trek: Beyond" <http://cdn1.sciencefiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/star-trek-beyond-featured.jpg>
"Star Trek: Beyond Space Station" <http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/images/e/e7/USS_Enterprise_at_Yorktown.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160726085816&path-prefix=en>
"Star Trek: Beyond Jaylah" <http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Star-Trek-Beyond1.jpg>
"Star Trek: Beyond Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzD8H6o1awQ>   

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

                  The long awaited return of on of the greatest franchises of all time has come! Today, we will look into J.J. Abrams's new film that has come out just in time for the Christmas Break. By the way, Merry Christmas! I'll do a Christmas post the day of, too.

S T A R   W A R S

E P I S O D E   V I I:

T H E   F O R C E   A W A K E N S

WARNING!!!: SPOILERS AS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE MOVIE ARE CONTAINED IN THIS REVIEW! THE RATINGS ARE RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM IF YOU WANT TO SEE EXPLICITLY THOSE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

                    The Empire has fallen, and in its place, the First Order has arisen, striking back with a fierce vengeance. Keep in mind that it has been thirty years since the events of Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi.

                     Luke Skywalker has vanished, and the Resistance is desperate to find him and bring lasting peace to the galaxy. General Leia Organa has sent one of her most trusted pilots, Po, to retrieve a portion of a map that Luke left as to his whereabouts. This is where the film begins.

                     Po has just received the map, and the First Order is coming to get that map, too. So Po makes a run for it with his droid, BB-8. They run to their X-Wing and board while the Stormtroopers wreak havoc. And hey... they've still got bad aim. Well, that's not entirely true. Their aim is actually pretty good.

                    Anyway, Po gives BB-8 the map and tells him to run... more like roll, since their ship has been compromised. Meanwhile, the camera shifts to a Stormtrooper who witnesses a friend die. Coming to his comrade's side, his helmet is smeared with blood by his friend's hand.
                    Po is captured and brought before Kylo Ren. They sorta sit there for a minute and then Po says, "So who's gonna talk first? You gonna talk first, am I gonna talk first?" It's some good comical relief. Then Kylo goes on with his evil dialogue, yadda yadda yadda, same old stuff. 

                     Po is then taken to the First Order's base which is, basically, another Death Star. BB-8

makes his escape safely. I believe this is where the story shifts to a scavenger. Forgive me if I'm wrong, I've had some problems with remembering things what with my concussion. But that's not important. 
                      This scavenger is Rey, a beautiful young woman who is just trying to stay alive. To do this, she scavenges scrap metal in return for rations of food. Her rations aren't that great, and I'm wondering if she just had a bad rep with the guy who exchanged rations for the parts. 
                       Anyway, she leaves from where she was scavenging, a fallen Empire Battleship from Episodes IV, V, and VI. After receiving her rations, she goes to where she lives, a fallen AT-AT. It's really cool how they brought things from the original trilogy back. 
                       Well, she's eating and she hears a little skirmish just over the sand dune in front of her, so she goes to check it out. And she discovers none other than BB-8! She helps him outta trouble and agrees to care for him for the day and evening. Alright, back to Po.
                       He is brought into the First Order Battleship that is hovering over Jakku, the planet that Rey and BB-8 are on. He is then walked into a room and put into restraints. The same Stormtrooper on Jakku that had blood on his helmet is looking to make an escape at the same time Po is being led

to his restraints. 
                        The Stromtrooper walks into the ship Po was brought out of and removes his helmet. Captain Phasma stands behind him and tells him he's gotta turn in his blaster for inspection, because he didn't kill anybody when he was ordered to on Jakku. Because hey, maybe his gun was jammed or something, y'know?
                         Anyway, Po is in his restraints and is pretty beat up. Kylo Ren sits across from him and admires his ability to work against the various tortures of the First Order. But Kylo gets what he wants. He uses the force to... FORCE... Po to tell him where BB-8 is (see what I did there?). Kylo Ren figures out from Po that BB-8 is back on Jakku. So naturally, they wanna go back.
                         Later, a Stormtrooper walks into Po's cell, and says, "Ren wants to see the prisoner."
                         The Stormtrooper leads Po out of the cell and pulls him aside real quick. 
                         "What are you doing?" asks Po as the Stormtrooper removes his helmet. It's the same guy who had blood on his helmet.

                         "I'm helping you escape."
                         The Stormtrooper then takes Po to the ship's hanger and takes him to a TIE-Fighter. They make a daring escape, during which Po asks the Stormtrooper his name. He responds saying his serial number, FN-2187. Po decides to call him Finn, and the two are then crash-landed onto Jakku.
                         Finn wakes up and looks around for Po. He finds the TIE-Fighter they were in and retrieves Po's jacket just before the ship sinks into the quick sand. 
                         Is Po dead? Where will Finn go? What's gonna happen with the gir- I mean, Rey? What's gonna happen with BB-8? When do Han and Chewey show up? Who's Kylo Ren? Where's Luke and Leia? All of these questions can be answered at your local movie theater. So go on! Buy those tickets and see this awesome flick! It is definitely worth the price of admission, I promise you.
                         Later, I'll post another review of the movie. But this time I'll just rant on how awesome it was. 

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Ratings:
Family Friendliness- 9.5/10 Star Wars is one of the few series that you can take your kids to go watch in theaters and expect no blood, no sensuality, and no cursing. And that still holds true with J.J. Abrams's film in the continuation of the Star Wars Saga. I mean, of course there's lightsaber battles, and those get pretty intense, but hey, that's all part of the fun, right?

Story-line- 9/10 Oh my goodness, if you have seen Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, you're gonna practically re-watch it when you go to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. But I mean, if it worked back then, it can definitely work now. And lemme tell you, the story isn't old. It's freaking amazing!!!

Re-watch Probability- High (8/10) I am dying to go back to the theater to see it again. It was such a good movie! I mean, not to mention that J.J. Abrams directed it! Also, they brought back the originals like Han, Chewey, Leia, and Luke; so that was pretty awesome. They even brought back John Williams, the original composer for the other six Star Wars movies!!! I loved this movie guys, and if you are as into Star Wars as I am, or maybe this is your first Star Wars film, you've definitely gotta go see it. It is totally worth it.


Bibliography: "Star Wars" <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Star_Wars_Logo.svg/2000px-Star_Wars_Logo.svg.png>
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Rey" <http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/11/ReyTFA.jpg>
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbxmsDFVnE>
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Kylo Ren" <http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeek/files/2015/12/kylo-main.jpg>
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens Rey and BB-8" <http://media.comicbook.com/2015/12/star-wars-rey-bb8-163203.jpg>


  
                         

                  

The Martian

                  Do you like Matt Damon? But you absolutely hated him in Interstellar? Well get ready for a film where good ol' Matt is on your side again! And this time he is stuck on Mars for over one year, about 500 days on Mars. But hey! It's a pretty fun adventure, full of laughs, suspense, and a whole lotta science.

T H E    M A R T I A N

                  The film starts off with Matt Damon and his crew of the "Ares III" Mission to Mars Expedition observing rocks. I know, very interesting. But the action starts off pretty quickly. There is a storm coming, and it is enormous. 

                  The storm hits them, and the crew slowly makes it to their ship to escape. While working their way to the ship however, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) gets hit by some debris and is blown off,

presumed dead. The crew blasts off and begins their journey home.
                  The news goes viral all over the world that Mark Watney is dead. However, Watney wakes up from the storm, and has survived. I mean, duh. Then there'd be no movie, right? Anyway, Watney has got an enormous needle in his gut, and he walks back to the base of the crew and stitches himself up. And guess what??? 
                   You get to see the whole thing... yea, I know, thrilling. So... probably not the best thing to show your eight or nine year old. Then after he's done with his stitching (more like stapling) he lies back and says, "F**k." Don't gemme wrong, it's pretty funny in the theater, but parental discretion is highly advised as Watney really likes to cuss.
                    Watney gets something to eat and then tallies up his food and begins video logs. He explains that he will only last a couple hundred Mars days, and that he is going to have to ration.

Because even if he could get in contact with Earth, he'd have to wait four years for the next Ares Mission to make it up to him.
                     Therefore, his next plan of action is to grow his own food. And it is pretty amazing what he does. Did I mention he's the Botanist of the Ares Crew? No? Well, now you know, and now you know why he is able to actually survive! He makes his own Martian grown food. Pretty sick.
                     But wait! There's more! Not only does he grow his own food, he makes a plan to drive his Ares Crew rover to the site of the landing of the next Ares Mission, "Ares IV." [Four for those of you who aren't so hot on your Roman Numerals, I've got your back :) ] But first he wants to dig up something that was sent to Mars in 1997. You'll find out later
                     So he digs up a radioactive isotope out of the ground (real smart actually considering his

plan) and then utilizes its power to drive the rover a little farther each and every day by doing some hot-wiring and making a portable charger for the rover.
                     At this point, the NASA team realizes something is up. They see that things about the Ares III Mission Site have changed, such as the rover being moved. They finally figure out that Watney is gonna dig up that 1997 vessel, and they figure out how to communicate with Watney through this relic from the past.
                     Now it's a little early to tell you the entire thing, but hopefully I have peaked your interest a little bit. I mean, Rotten Tomatoes viewers rate it at 92%! It's definitely one to see in theaters, and if you can, see it in 3D. Makes it a whole lot more stressful, but better.

Ratings:
Family Friendliness: 8/10 Rovers- The film is pretty friendly, except for the swearing. Overall, it's funny, stressful, and a riveting experience, thanks to Ridley Scott's vision of space.
Story-line: 10/10 Potatoes- This is one of the few times I will ever give a 10 for 10 rating. I have not read "The Martian" book, but I absolutely loved everything about the story in this movie. It was a movie about redemption, survival, and the strength of determination, and the good uses of schooling that we can actually see!!!
Re-watch Probability: Very High (9/10 Spaceships)- You will love this movie so much you will immediately want to watch it again, yet at the same time you won't. You want to watch the riveting experience, but you're afraid to be stressed out again. Still, like I keep saying, it's amazing.
Overall: 9 out of 10 Stars- Two words can sum up everything I have been trying to tell you about this movie:

T  H  E     M  A  R  T  I  A  N

Bibliography: "The Martian" <http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WV6oREW0nmQ/maxresdefault.jpg>

"The Martian Rover" <http://s3.foxfilm.com/foxmovies/production/films/104/images/gallery/martian-gallery11-gallery-image.jpg>

"The Martian Ares III Crew" <http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--FA5Xev3z--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/1438981647730000017.jpg>

"The Martian Trailer" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej3ioOneTy8>